Synthesis, biological screening and molecular docking studies of novel 4,6-pyrimidine derivatives as EGFR-TK inhibitors

Novel 4, 6-disubstituted pyrimidine derivatives (5–16) were synthesized in four steps starting from 2,4-dichloropyrimidine and screened for their cytotoxicity using brine shrimp (Artemia Salina) lethality bioassay. The compounds such as 6, 11, 14 and 15 were found to be more toxic. The compounds were also studied for in vitro anticancer properties using six different cancer cell lines viz SIHA, PANC-1, MDA-MB-231, IMR-32, DU145 and A549. The compound 14 was effective inhibitor of SIHA and DU145, whereas compound 16 in Panc 1 and A549, compound 7 in MDA-MB-231 and compound 6 in IMR 32 respectively. Molecular docking studies were carried out using an X-ray crystallographic structure of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase to explore the possible mode of action of compounds as epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors.